Systems and methods for timing recovery with bandwidth extension

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to circuits and communication. More specifically, a specific embodiment of the present invention provides a timing recovery device with two stages. The first stage generates a clock signal to sample the received waveform, and the second stage provides timing-jitter mitigation. The second stage includes a jitter mitigation circuit with coefficients a function of the instantaneous jitter estimate, in addition to a jitter estimation tracking loop consisting of an error generator, a timing error detector and a loop filter to compensate for timing jitter associated with the clock signal. There are other embodiments as well.

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to circuits and communication.

Over the last few decades, the use of communication networks hasexploded. In the early days of the Internet, popular applications werelimited to emails, bulletin board, and mostly informational andtext-based web page surfing, and the amount of data transferred had beenrelatively small. Today, the Internet and mobile applications demand ahuge amount of bandwidth for transferring photo, video, music, and othermultimedia files, as more and more people use the Internet for mediaconsumption. Data centers often need to transmit and process hundreds ofterabytes of data hourly. With such high demands on data storage anddata transfer, existing data communication systems need to be improvedto address these needs.

Timing recovery is an important component of receivers. Timing recoveryinvolves extracting clock rate from received data; the rate that areceiver processes the received data is based on extracted clock rate.Performance of the receiver depends, among other things, on theperformance of its timing-recovery mechanism. Over the past, there havebeen many conventional timing recovery designs, but they have beeninadequate. New and improved timing-recovery methods and systems aredesired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to circuits and communication. Morespecifically, a specific embodiment of the present invention provides atiming recovery device with two stages. The first stage adjusts a clocksignal, and the second stage provides further jitter mitigation. Thesecond stage includes a jitter mitigation circuit and a jitterestimation circuit, to reduce jitters associated with the clock signal.There are other embodiments as well.

According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a timingrecovery apparatus, which includes a first stage circuit comprising ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC) and an equalizer. The ADC isconfigured to digitize a data stream using a recovered clock signal. Therecovered clock signal is impaired by timing jitter, which inducesjitter-dependent inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the digitized data.The equalizer is configured to provide equalized data based on an outputof the ADC. The apparatus also includes a second stage circuit. Thesecond stage circuit includes a jitter mitigation circuit coupled to theequalizer and configured to output a signal with reducedjitter-dependent ISI. The second stage circuit also includes a jitterestimation circuit. The jitter estimation circuit includes an errorgenerator configured to generate an error signal based on the outputsignal and a data detector signal.

According to another embodiment, the present invention provides a jittermitigation circuit for timing recovery. The circuit includes a jittermitigation circuit coupled to the equalizer and configured to generatean output signal with reduced jitter-dependent ISI. The jittermitigation circuit has a finite response filter configured with multipletap values, the tap values depending on an estimate of the instantaneousjitter. The circuit also includes a jitter estimation circuit, with anerror generator configured to generate an error signal based on theoutput signal and a data detector signal. The circuit further includes atiming error detector (TED) configured to generate a timing errorsignal. The circuit additionally includes a loop filter configured togenerate an estimate of the instantaneous timing jitter based on thetiming error signal.

According to yet another embodiment, the present invention provides areceiver apparatus that includes an interface for receiving a datastream. The apparatus also includes a timing recovery module comprisinga first stage circuit and a second stage circuit. The first stagecircuit includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), which isconfigured to digitize the data stream using a recovered clock signal.The recovered clock signal is impaired by timing jitter. The first stagecircuit also includes an equalizer configured to provide equalized databased on an output of the ADC. The second stage circuit includes ajitter mitigation circuit coupled to the equalizer and configured togenerate an output signal with reduced timing-jitter-induced ISI.

It is to be appreciated that embodiments of the present inventionprovide many advantages over conventional techniques. Timing-recoverymechanisms according to the present invention can effectively compensatefor jitter on a recovered clock. In various implementations, timingrecovery mechanisms according to the present invention extend timingrecovery bandwidth (e.g., to over 15 MHz) without adding to the designrequirements (e.g., latency of existing receiver components) of othercomponents in the receiver. Implemented in conjunction with a firststage timing recovery circuit, the second stage timing recovery circuitdetects and reduces the residual jitter after the first-stage timingrecovery.

Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in conjunctionwith existing systems and processes. In various embodiments, the jittermitigation circuit and the second stage circuit of a timing recoverydevice can be configured to allow modular implementation, thusfacilitating their incorporation into various systems and apparatus. Forexample, timing recovery mechanisms according to the present inventioncan be manufactured using existing processes and thus can be easily andconveniently added onto existing designs. There are other benefits aswell.

The present invention achieves these benefits and others in the contextof known technology. However, a further understanding of the nature andadvantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to thelatter portions of the specification and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following diagrams are merely examples, which should not undulylimit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize many other variations, modifications, and alternatives.It is also understood that the examples and embodiments described hereinare for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications orchanges in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the artand are to be included within the spirit and purview of this process andscope of the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating a communication systemaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a timing recoverydevice 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating jitter mitigationmechanism 300 for timing recovery according to embodiments of thepresent invention

FIGS. 4A and 4B provide plots illustrating genie-aided performance ofjitter mitigation according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B provide plots illustrating simulated performance ofjitter mitigation (with FFE and DFE) according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B provide plots illustrating simulated performance ofjitter mitigation (with FFE) according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a two-stage timingrecovery device according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a two-stage timingrecovery device according to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to circuits and communication. Morespecifically, a specific embodiment of the present invention provides atiming recovery device with two stages. The first stage adjusts a clocksignal, and the second stage provides further jitter mitigation byincreasing the overall timing recovery tracking bandwidth. The secondstage includes a jitter mitigation circuit, an error generator, a timingerror detector and a tracking loop filter to reduce jitters associatedwith the clock signal. There are other embodiments as well.

The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skillin the art to make and use the invention and to incorporate it in thecontext of particular applications. Various modifications, as well as avariety of uses in different applications will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein maybe applied to a wide range of embodiments. Thus, the present inventionis not intended to be limited to the embodiments presented, but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the presentinvention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatthe present invention may be practiced without necessarily being limitedto these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in orderto avoid obscuring the present invention.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which arefiled concurrently with this specification and which are open to publicinspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papersand documents are incorporated herein by reference. All the featuresdisclosed in this specification, (including any accompanying claims,abstract, and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features servingthe same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly statedotherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each featuredisclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent orsimilar features.

Furthermore, any element in a claim that does not explicitly state“means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing aspecific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step”clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. Section 112, Paragraph 6. Inparticular, the use of “step of” or “act of” in the Claims herein is notintended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6.

Please note, if used, the labels left, right, front, back, top, bottom,forward, reverse, clockwise and counter clockwise have been used forconvenience purposes only and are not intended to imply any particularfixed direction. Instead, they are used to reflect relative locationsand/or directions between various portions of an object.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating a communication systemaccording to embodiments of the present invention. This diagram ismerely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of theclaims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, alternatives, and modifications. Communication system 100includes transmitter 110, receiver 120, and link 130. Transmitter 110transmits data to receiver 120 via communication link 130. Receiver 120includes sampler 121, analog to digital converter (ADC) 122, digitalsignal processor (123), and timing recovery module 124. It is to beunderstood that receiver 120 as shown merely provides an example andincludes additional components (e.g., receiver interface, equalizer,variable gain amplifier, reference clock, etc.) and may have differentconfigurations. Sampler 121 samples analog data received viacommunication link 130. Sampler 121, as shown, also connects to timingrecovery module 124. The ADC 122 converts sampled analog data to digitalformat. The DSP 123 further processes the received data-now in digitalformat after conversion by ADC 122. For example, DSP 123 may beconfigured to perform equalization, detection, error correction, andother processes. The output of DSP 123 is provided to timing recoverymodule 124, which extract timing information (e.g., clock signal). As anexample, timing recovery module 124 is implemented according toembodiments of the present invention, and it comprises two stages thatallow for a high level of performance. Timing recovery module 124includes a first stage circuit and a second stage circuit. The firststage circuit is configured to adjust clock rate. The second stagecircuit is configured to compensate for jitter in the clock.

Timing information, extracted by timing recovery module 124, isimportant for data processing, as receiver 120 relies on the timinginformation to sample the received data. Regardless of whether link 130is wired, wireless, or optical, timing recovery is essential, and theperformance of the timing recovery mechanism directly affects theperformance and reliability of data communication and data processingsystems. For example, serializer/deserializer (SerDes), transceivers,data management systems, and other device are implemented with varioustypes of timing recovery mechanisms. In some embodiments, timingrecovery mechanisms according to the present invention are used incommunication systems that use pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)signaling.

There are many considerations in digital timing recovery design. Theperformance of a digital timing recovery mechanism mainly depends on (oris limited by) loop latency and the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of thetiming-error detector. It is to be appreciated that embodiments of thepresent invention address these mechanisms and take other considerationsinto account as well. In certain scenarios, the timing recovery processenables reliable communication with non-compliant transmitters. Forexample, a non-compliant transmitter may have jitters beyond theachievable bandwidth of a conventional timing recovery loop, and toaddress this problem, the jitter-tracking performance needs to beimproved. Additionally, in a digital timing recovery scheme that closestiming at the analog sampling circuit, decreasing loop latency increasespower consumption and/or decreases timing SNR. It is therefore to beappreciated that the present invention, in various embodiments, improvesvarious aspects of timing recovery mechanisms that can be used in manyapplications.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a timing recoverydevice 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Thisdiagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope ofthe claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, alternatives, and modifications. As an example, timingrecovery device 200 can be implemented as block 124 in FIG. 1. Timingrecovery device 200 includes a first stage circuit 210 and a secondstage circuit 220. The first stage circuit 210 generates a recoveredclock signal based on the received samples and adjusts the samplingclock frequency. The second stage circuit 220 detects and mitigatestiming jitter.

In timing recovery processes, untracked jitter inducestiming-phase-error dependent intersymbol interference (ISI). While ISIcan be compensated by a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, the tapamplitudes of the jitter mitigation circuit need to reflect theinstantaneous residual jitter, which means that the jitter needs to betracked. The second stage circuit 220 of the timing recovery device 200compensates residual jitter less than 1 unit interval (UI) peak-to-peakin amplitude, and jitter compensation efficiency decreases astiming-phase error increases.

The timing recovery process starts with the sampled data, as receivedand processed by ADC 201. For example, the sampled data is generated bya sampler (e.g., sampler 121 in FIG. 1, not shown in FIG. 2) based on areceived data stream. ADC 201 digitizes the sampled data by performinganalog to digital conversion process at a clock rate (typically at thereceiving baud rate), which is adjusted by the timing correction signalreceived by the digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) 206. Thefeedforward equalizer (FFE) 202 equalizes the channel. Depending on theimplementation, other types of equalizations may be performed as well.

The equalized data, provided by FFE 202, are processed by detector (DET)203, which may be implemented with different types of mechanisms. Forexample, DET 203 may be implemented using a slicer, a decision feedbackequalizer (DFE), a maximum likelihood sequence detector (MLSD), and/orother types of mechanisms. In a specific embodiment, DET 203 isimplemented with a DFE that implements a first post-cursor tap andincludes a slicer. An MLSD-based DET may also be implemented with, amongother components, a slicer.

Error generator (ErrGen) 204 uses outputs of both FFE 202 and DET 203 asshown. For an ISI detector (e.g., DFE, MLSE), error generator 204 usesthe slicer decisions from DET 203 to remove the (decision-dependent)cursor and ISI terms from the FFE output. When the DET 203 isimplemented simply with a slicer, error generator 204 removes thedecision-dependent cursor contribution from the FFE output.

Block 205 includes a timing error detector (TED) and a loop filter (LF).The TED uses the outputs of error generator 204 and DET 203 to generatean indication of whether the sampling process is early or late. The LFfilters the TED output in order to generate a signal that controls thefrequency of the clock generated by the DCO 206.

The performance of first stage circuit 210 is limited by, among otherthings, its loop latency. To provide an improvement in jitter trackingbandwidth, the latency of the second stage circuit 220 as implemented ismuch smaller than that of the first stage circuit 210. For example, thelatency of first stage circuit 210 can be described as the total latencyof its components (e.g., ADC, FFE, DET, ErrGen, TED, LF and DCO), whichis larger than the total latency of the components in the second stagecircuit 220. The first stage circuit 210, due to its latencylimitations, cannot provide adequate jitter tracking bandwidth for someapplications. It is to be appreciated that second stage circuit 220,optimized for both latency and accuracy, is effective in removingresidual timing jitter from first stage circuit 210.

In certain embodiments, interference and/or reflection cancellationfunctions (not shown) are integrated with the jitter mitigation circuit211 into a single impairment-mitigation block. To avoid increasing looplatency, these added functions, such as interference and reflectioncancelation, can be performed prior to (or in parallel with) the jittermitigation circuit.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connection between first stage circuit 210 andsecond stage circuit 220 is implemented by the connection between FFE202 and jitter mitigation circuit 211. More specifically, jittermitigation circuit 211 performs jitter mitigation process using the FFE202 output (i.e., equalized sampled data). In a specific embodiment,jitter mitigation circuit 211 is a look-up table indexed by theequalizer output. Second stage circuit 220 includes jitter mitigationcircuit 211, DET 212, error generator 213, and block 214. In a specificembodiment, block 214 is omitted, and the output of block 205 is usedinstead as input to jitter mitigation circuit 211. It is to beappreciated that blocks 212-214 may be similar to corresponding blocksof first stage 210, but they are implemented specifically for secondstage circuit 220 and configured for jitter mitigation function. Theoutput of the second stage circuit 220 is provided by DET 212. DET 212provides improved error correction performance, but when included in thejitter tracking control loop it introduces additional latency. In someembodiments, the selector 215 is configured to select the values fromDET 203, which can translate to increased tracking bandwidth andstability with a relatively small cost of lowered accuracy. In certainapplications, second stage circuit 220 can be bypassed altogether (e.g.,to conserve power, reduce latency, etc.). For example, a control module(not shown in FIG. 2) can turn the second stage circuit 220 on and offas needed. In various embodiments, the condition for turning off orbypassing the second stage circuit 220 includes power consumption,jitter level being lower than a predetermined threshold, etc.

In FIG. 2, error generator 213 receives inputs from jitter mitigationcircuit 211 in addition to inputs from either DET 203 or DET 212. Whenerror generator 213 is configured to receive inputs from DET 203, thejitter tracking loop latency is minimized, which increases theachievable jitter tracking bandwidth of the second stage 220. Specificfunctions and configurations of error generator 213 are described infurther detail below.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating jitter mitigationmechanism 300 for timing recovery according to embodiments of thepresent invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should notunduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. As anexample, jitter mitigation mechanism 300 is implemented as the secondstage circuit 220 of timing recovery device 200.

Jitter mitigation mechanism 300 includes a jitter estimation circuit 311and jitter mitigation circuit 309, which is expanded from FIG. 2 toprovide an exemplary implementation. Jitter mitigation circuit 309includes a 7-tap linearized implementation of an FIR filter, with tapamplitudes that depend on an estimate of the instantaneous jitter. Thethree post-cursor and three pre-cursor taps have fixed coefficientmultipliers (i.e., α⁻³ to α₃), and their summed output is scaled by anestimate of the instantaneous jitter θ[l] at node 305, such that theeffective non-cursor FIR taps weights are α_(i)·θ[l]. To account for thecontribution of a non-zero first post-cursor in the equalized response,node 306 multiplies a delayed summing node output by the DFE tapamplitude β. The cursor tap is unity gain, and the cursor input iscombined with the output of node 305 to generate the jitter-mitigatedoutput. The inputs to the cursor tap are the FFE outputs. Depending onthe application, the inputs to the non-cursor taps are either the FFEoutputs or the first stage detector outputs. Depending on theimplementation, the number of taps in filter 309 may vary. The number oftaps affect, among other things, power consumption and performance. Inthis exemplary implementation, the jitter tracking loop only needs to beclosed at node 305 (which implements the multiplication by θ), and thuscontributes to low loop latency.

In certain embodiments, fewer taps (e.g., three or five taps) are usedas the insertion loss of the channel decreases. At startup, the set ofcoefficients can be selected based on the FFE and DFE coefficients. Theerror generator 301, as shown, receives the value calculated at node308. Node 308 provides the output r[l] of jitter mitigation circuit 309that is the difference between value provided at line 310 and the valueof node 305. Additionally, error generator 301 also uses the output of aDET block, which could be the second stage DET (e.g., block 212 in FIG.2) or the first stage DET (e.g., block 203 in FIG. 2) as its input. Forexample, the output e[l] of error generator, when operating in anFFE-only mode (i.e., DET is PAM slicer; β=0), is:e[l]=r[l]−d[l]where r[l] is the output of the jitter mitigation FIR, and d[l] is thePAM level corresponding to the DET output. Otherwise, the output e[l] ofthe error generator 301, when β≠0, is:e[l]=r[l]−(d[l]+β·d[l−1])

The output e[l] of error generator 301 is processed at block 302, whichincludes a TED and an LF as shown. Block 302 is coupled to selector 303,which selects between the value at node 304 and DET signal d[l].Depending on the implementation, the TED used in the second stage (e.g.,block 214 in FIG. 2) does not need to be the same as the type of TEDused in the first stage (e.g., block 205 in FIG. 2). TED in block 302can be implemented in various ways, such as zero-forcing (ZF) TED andminimum mean-square error (MMSE) TED. The output T[l] of a zero-forcingTED, where d[l] is the PAM level corresponding to the DET, can bedescribed as:T[l]=e[l]·(d[l+1]−d[l−1])

The output T[l] of an MMSE TED—where e[l] is the output of the errorgenerator, and w[l] is the output from the non-cursor taps of the jittermitigation FIR filter (immediately prior to its multiplication by θ)—is:T[l]=e[l]·w[l],

A loop filter (LF) is implemented as a part of block 302, along with theTED. In various embodiments, the loop filter output θ is the integral ofsome function q(⋅) of the TED output:θ[l]=θ[l−1]+μ·q(T(l))For example, the LF is implemented using a proportional controller, andthe LF output is:θ[l]=[l−1]+k _(p) ·T(l)

As another example, the LF is implemented using a proportional-integralcontroller, and its output is:θ[l]=θ[l−1]+μ·(T(l)+U[l])whereU[l]=U[l−1]+μ_(l) ·T(l)

There are two primary factors affecting the overall jitter mitigationperformance. The first is the jitter tracking control loop, that is, howwell θ[l] tracks the residual timing jitter. The second is the jittercompensation data path equalizer, which determines how well the jittermitigation FIR filter compensates residual ISI due to timing jitter.

FIGS. 4A and 4B provide plots illustrating genie-aided performance ofjitter mitigation according to embodiments of the present invention.This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit thescope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognizemany variations, alternatives, and modifications. The genie-aidedperformance assumes that the residual timing jitter is static butperfectly known (e.g., genie-aided jitter tracking control loop). As theinsertion loss (IL) increases, the penalty in the absence of jittercompensation increases, but the penalty with compensation decreases.FIG. 4A shows performance of a PAM4 configuration with FFE and DFE. FIG.4B shows performance of a PAM4 configuration with FFE.

FIGS. 5A and 5B provide plots illustrating simulated performance ofjitter mitigation (with FFE and DFE) according to embodiments of thepresent invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should notunduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. Thesimulation corresponds to a condition of 3 dB jitter rejection at 18 MHzand less than 2.6 dB of peaking (zero peaking prior to 27 MHz). ForSJ=0.2 UI peak-to-peak (p2p) at 8 MHz, less than 0.75 dB of degradationrelative to baseline SNR. FIG. 5A shows jitter error transfer functions.FIG. 5B shows SER-based PAM4 SNR. To compare the three plots in FIG. 5B,plot 501 corresponds to SJ=0 UI p2p, and K_(p)=0; plot 502 correspondsto SJ=0.2 UI p2p, K_(p)=0; and plot 503 corresponds to SJ=0.2 UI p2p,with 7-tap jitter FIR.

FIGS. 6A and 6B provide plots illustrating simulated performance ofjitter mitigation (with FFE) according to embodiments of the presentinvention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not undulylimit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. Thesimulation corresponds to 3 dB jitter rejection at 16.5 MHz, with lessthan 1.9 dB of peaking (zero peaking prior to 27 MHz). For SJ=0.2 UI p2p@ 8 MHz, less than 0.6 dB of degradation relative to baseline SNR. FIG.6A shows jitter error transfer function measured in dB. FIG. 6B showsSER-based PAM4 SNR measured in dB. To compare the three plots in FIG.6B, plot 601 corresponds to SJ=0 UI p2p, and K_(p)=0; plot 602corresponds to SJ=0.2 UI p2p, K_(p)=0; and plot 603 corresponds toSJ=0.2 UI p2p, with 3-tap jitter FIR.

In addition to the performance benefits, as illustrated in plots, timingrecovery mechanisms according to the present invention also provideimplementational advantages. For example, the jitter mitigation circuitand the second stage of a timing recovery device can be configured formodular implementation, thus allowing them to be incorporated intovarious systems and apparatus. In various implementations, timingrecovery mechanisms according to the present invention extend timingrecovery bandwidth to over 15 MHz without adding to the designrequirements of other elements in the receiver (e.g., latency ofexisting receiver elements). Implemented in conjunction with the firststage timing recovery, the second stage timing recovery detects theresidual jitter after the first-stage timing recovery. To obtain optimaloverall performance, the peaking and bandwidth of the first stage areoptimized with respect to the peaking and bandwidth of the second stage.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a two-stage timingrecovery device according to embodiments of the present invention. Thisdiagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope ofthe claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, alternatives, and modifications. Timing recovery device 700includes an ADC 701 that digitizes received data signals at a recoveredclock rate provided by timing recovery circuit 706. The digitized datais equalized by equalizer 702. Timing recovery circuit 702 determinesthe recovery clock rate by processing the equalized data provided byequalizer. Timing recovery circuit 706 is able to adjust clock rate andprovide limited jitter reduction, but its bandwidth is limited by, amongother things, its latency. As an example, timing recovery circuit 706includes components such as DCO, TED, LF, detector, error generator,and/or detector. Jitter mitigation circuit 703 processes the equalizeddigital data provided by equalizer 702 and reduces jitters, using errorestimation provided by jitter estimation circuit 705. For example,jitter estimation circuit 705 may be implemented with detector, errorgenerator, TED, LF, and/or other components. One or more components ofjitter estimation circuit 705 may be shared with the timing recoverycircuit 706. In some embodiments, jitter estimation circuit 705 does nothave its own detector or TED, but uses the output of timing recoverycircuit's detector or TED. Jitter mitigation circuit 703 can beimplemented, for example, using an FIR filter. In certain embodiments,jitter mitigation circuit 703 comprises a lookup table that is indexedby the output of equalizer 702. The output of jitter mitigation circuit703 is equalized by equalizer 704, which provides a receiver output (RXOutput).

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a two-stage timingrecovery device according to embodiments of the present invention. Thisdiagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope ofthe claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, alternatives, and modifications. This diagram is merely anexample, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives,and modifications. Timing recovery device 800 includes an ADC 801 thatdigitizes received data signals at a recovered clock rate provided bytiming recovery circuit 806. The digitized data is equalized byequalizer 803. For example, equalizer 803 is implemented with an FFE.Timing recovery circuit 802 determines the recovered clock rate byprocessing the equalized data provided by equalizer. Timing recoverycircuit 802 is able to adjust clock rate and provide limited jitterreduction, but its bandwidth is limited by, among other things, itslatency. As an example, timing circuit 802 includes components such asDCO, TED, LF, detector, error generator, and/or detector. For example,detector 804 may be implemented as a part of timing recovery circuit802. Jitter mitigation circuit 805 processes the equalized digital dataprovided by equalizer 803 and reduces jitters. Error generator 807selects between detector 804 and detector 806 as its input to generatean error signal, which is used by block 808 to generate a timing errorsignal. Block 808 includes TED and LF. Jitter mitigation circuit 805 canbe implemented, for example, using an FIR filter. In certainembodiments, jitter mitigation circuit 805 comprises a lookup table thatis indexed by the output of equalizer 803. The output (RX Output) oftiming recovery device 800 is coupled to output of detector 806 asshown.

While the above is a full description of the specific embodiments,various modifications, alternative constructions and equivalents may beused. Therefore, the above description and illustrations should not betaken as limiting the scope of the present invention which is defined bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A timing recovery apparatus comprising: a firststage circuit comprising: an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), anequalizer, and an oscillator; the ADC being configured to digitize adata stream using a sampler triggered by a recovered clock signal and toadjust an operating frequency based on a timing correction signalgenerated by the oscillator, the recovered clock signal being impairedby a residual timing jitter; and the equalizer being configured toprovide equalized data based on an output of the ADC; and a second stagecircuit comprising: a jitter mitigation circuit coupled to the equalizerand configured to compensate for timing-jitter-induced inter-symbolinterference (ISI) in an equalizer output, the jitter mitigation circuithaving coefficients associated with an estimate of the residual timingjitter; and a jitter estimation circuit configured to determine theresidual timing jitter, the jitter estimation circuit comprising: anerror generator configured to generate an error signal based at least ona detector output signal; a timing error detector (TED) configured togenerate a timing error signal based at least on the error signal; aselector coupled to the TED, the selector being coupled to anintermediate output of the jitter mitigation circuit and a data detectorsignal; and a loop filter configured to generate the estimate of theresidual timing jitter based on the timing error signal.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the timing error detector (TED) comprises azero-forcing TED.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the equalizercomprises a feedforward equalizer.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe first stage circuit further comprises a detector configured togenerate the data detector signal.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:the first stage circuit further comprises a first detector coupled tothe equalizer to process the equalized data; and the second stagecircuit further comprises a second detector configured to process anoutput signal of the jitter mitigation circuit.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the error generator is configured to generate the errorsignal based on an output of the jitter mitigation circuit and thedetector output signal.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the jittermitigation circuit comprises a finite impulse response filter.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the jitter mitigation circuit comprises alook-up table indexed by the equalizer output.
 9. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the first stage circuit comprises a detector configured toprocess the equalized data and generate a first output wherein: theerror generator is configured to receive the equalized data and thefirst output, to process the equalized data based on the first output,and to generate a second output; the timing error detector is configured(i) to receive the first output and the second output, and (ii) togenerate a third output indicative of a sampling rate; and theoscillator is configured (i) to receive the third output, and (ii) toadjust the operating frequency of the ADC based on the third output. 10.A circuit for jitter mitigation and timing recovery, the circuitcomprising: a jitter mitigation circuit coupled to an equalizer tocompensate for timing-jitter-induced inter-symbol interference (ISI) inan equalizer output, the jitter mitigation circuit comprising a finiteimpulse response filter with taps that depend on an estimate of aresidual timing jitter, the estimate of the residual timing jitter beingprovided by a jitter tracking loop; an error generator configured togenerate an error signal based on an output of the jitter mitigationcircuit and a detector output signal; a timing error detector (TED)configured to generate a timing error signal; a selector coupled to theTED, the selector being coupled to an intermediate output of the jittermitigation circuit and a data detector signal; and a loop filterconfigured to generate the estimate of the residual timing jitter basedon the timing error signal.
 11. The circuit of claim 10 furthercomprising a detector for generating the detector output signal.
 12. Thecircuit of claim 10 wherein the jitter mitigation circuit is coupled toa receiver with an integrated timing recovery circuit.
 13. The circuitof claim 10 wherein the jitter mitigation circuit processes the outputof a feedforward equalizer from a receiver with an integrated timingrecovery circuit.
 14. The circuit of claim 10 wherein the errorgenerator receives the data detector signal from a data detector of areceiver with an integrated timing recovery circuit.
 15. The circuit ofclaim 10 wherein the equalizer comprises a feedforward equalizer.
 16. Areceiver apparatus comprising: an interface for receiving a data stream;and a timing recovery module comprising a first stage circuit and asecond stage circuit; wherein: the first stage circuit comprises: ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC), the ADC being configured to digitizethe data stream using a recovered clock signal, the recovered clocksignal being impaired by residual timing jitter, an equalizer configuredto provide equalized data based on an output of the ADC; and the secondstage circuit comprising a jitter mitigation circuit coupled to theequalizer and configured to compensate for timing-jitter-inducedinter-symbol interference (ISI) in an equalizer output, the jittermitigation circuit comprising a finite impulse response filter with tapsthat depend on an estimate of a residual timing jitter, the estimate ofthe residual timing jitter being provided by a jitter tracking loop, thejitter mitigation circuit comprising a selector coupled to anintermediate output of the jitter mitigation circuit and a detectorsignal.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the second stage circuitfurther comprises digital signal processor (DSP) configured to processthe digitized data stream.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16 furthercomprising a sampler configured to synchronously sample the data stream.19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the data stream is associated witha pulse-amplitude modulation format.